telephone niche

So today was one of those days. I was a little frustrated. I was assigned to trash duty in the back yard...why trash duty? Leo cut the front yard last week. But since no one sees the backyard and we have so many other things to do, we put off the back yard. But the time has come. So, my dad sent me to the backyard to pick up trash. We don't want Leo to cut himself while cutting the yard--a trip to the emergency room is not what we want right now!

But, this is a time where I really wish I possessed more valuable skills...such as drywall mudding. Never thought I would say that.

So trash hunting I went. I found old wooden shingles, asphalt shingles, little green BB gun pellets, nails, bolts longer than a foot in length, more nails, more little green pellets, triangular pieces of gutter material, broken beer glass, and these big metal pieces which I still have no clue what they are. But there were at least 10 randomly stuck in the dirt. That would have hurt. So I guess it was an important job. But I wasn't so convinced when I picked up an old Big K Cola can and brown gook came spilling out. That smelled like death. Then I was pretty much done. So I looked for about 5 more minutes and then called it quits, went inside, and asked for another job.

I was assigned to trim the bedrooms with the oil-based primer. Finally, a job that actually felt like I was contributing to progress! I was about 5 minutes into it and my hand was killing me and the paint looked awful. I called my Dad in to look (probably the 10th time I called for him in 5 minutes. Poor guy) and he decided it was too humid and the paint was too thick. So I stopped that job. He then reassigned me to organizing his tools. Oh, the glamour.

But I did it. I started organizing the nail boxes, screwdrivers, drywall tapes, duct tape, rope--a sundry of things. I was on my probably 20th trip down the stairs and my Dad stopped and asked me, you want to do something else for me?? I was a little wary, not going to lie! It hadn't turned out so great for me as of yet. But he asked if I wanted to try to crack open the little box underneath the old telephone niche that had been painted shut.

Are you kidding me? I had been begging to do this for weeks. It may not seem like much to you all, especially if you aren't an old house fanatic, but curiosity had been killing me. What would I find in there? What have people been sticking in there the last few decades? I needed to know. I also needed to know how the contraption worked. My engineer friend would be proud of me, I'd like to think :)

So I grabbed a paint scraper. And I scraped. I finished scraping but it still wouldn't come open. Then I realized the top underneath part had been caulked. And I had jammed the caulking in between the frame and the front, in my attempt to try to get to it quickly. So then I walked around for a few minutes trying to find a tool to pull it out. I settled on a flat-head screw driver. My Dad didn't think it would work. It did. My little victory for the day :)

Anyway, we finally popped it open and I was so excited. Like many things in the real world, it didn't quite live up to expectations...in fact it was a little gross. I don't know what I was expecting though. Maybe a date? Someone's name? A few thousand dollars to help with the reno costs? If only!

So when I said it was a little gross, I meant a little. It wasn't bad. But if dirty q-tips really bother you, I warned you! Mostly it was candy bar wrappers and kids things---a little toy, a crayon, some tiny scissors. There was a pretty old coupon for cereal and I was interested to see the expiration date. Of course the one time in my life I wanted to see an expiration date, it said in all caps "NO EXPIRATION DATE"! My friend Teresa suggested I take it to Kroger and buy some Coco Puffs and try to use the coupon. I'll get back to you all on that one :)

Then there was the old parts and the sign from the company that I suppose installed the phone. Not super exciting but kind of neat!

Right now I'm trying to decide what to put in it. I've heard sometimes they had lights in them so at night you could see to reach the phone. I think that would be neat and a decent night light! Any one heard of something different? 

-Katie

yard work 2

Wow! I didn't realize how long it has been since I updated the blog! We have done a lot of yard work.We did the new landscaping, and its almost done. Like I said in the previous post about yard work, we first cleared everything out. Then we tried to kill as many weeds as possible. We got all of the plants from Watkins. The bushes seem tiny right now, especially against the porch, but they grow pretty fast. Plus sometimes when you are on a budget, you have to go with the cheaper choice :)

We also dug up a lot of the daffodils and tulips and replanted them along the front walk. No, it's not the normal time to replant bulbs, but I read some blogs online that said it was okay....so I figured we might as well give it a shot. It was either give it a try and hope they survive, or stick them in the garbage bag, where they obviously would have no chance at all!  Once they die off for the year, my plan is to get some summer flowers (petunias or something similar---cheap and hardy are the two key requirements). Here are some pictures:

Leo is in the process of burying the border pavers into the ground about halfway, so that they don't stick up as much and also that they are sturdy and not going anywhere. We then have to add the mulch.

I bought some weed killer last week to try to kill off the weeds (we have a slight weed issue--they're everywhere). It was Round-up to be exact. But I've never really been comfortable knowing all of the chemicals that is in it. So I went to Pinterest, as I do for so many things, and found a general consensus on a more natural weed killer that is quite effective. Some even said it was better than Round-up at killing their weeds. It is 1/2 gallon of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of salt, and 1 tsp Dawn liquid dish soap. I might try it tomorrow or Monday...I will let you all know how it goes!

-Katie

opening new doors

I am not going to lie. I was getting a little discouraged a couple weeks ago when we were surrounded by wallpaper, drywall mud, and tape...and I wasn't even the one taping and mudding everything (insert a million thank-yous to my Dad!) But now I can see it coming together.

I stopped by at the house today after work and took some pictures of the progress on the master bath/ensuite area. We are taking the small 5th bedroom next to the master bedroom (which used to be a kitchen when the house was an apartment) and converting it into a master closet/bath area. The closet will be walk-in, but more of a skinny "galley" style. I'm still very excited about having several feet of closet space! The other, larger side will be the bathroom. Then, the old entrance into the room from the hallway has been sealed, as well as the old entrance from the master into the old shared bathroom.

Some befores of this side of the master:

During, with the closet gone:

The new doors (please excuse the construction mess)!:

Door into the shared bath (there's another door that leads to the hallway from the bathroom):

 Now sealed!

Here is the before of the old bedroom. Yes, that is graffiti and "brick" vinyl flooring...

The door to the hallway is now gone, but we added two more!

 Old view into the master from the bathroom:

 And no more:

Taking the doors, frames, and trim out was a little nerve-racking for me. We are trying to save all that we can, because you can't find trim to match, without having it custom-made. That is not in our budget! But it went fine, we were able to save it all! For example, the doors that are now leading into the master bath/closet are the old doors from the bathroom and old closet, and my dad will eventually use the exact same trim and put it all back together.

-Katie

yard work!

Starting on Thursday, we tore out almost all of the landscaping in the front. We want a fresh start to do a landscaping of our own. Plus, a lot of the landscaping was haphazard, depending on what survived the last year or so without being cared for. We were concerned with how much we would end up spending to redo everything. However, the yard really needed it and I know that next year I'm not going to want to do a major re-haul two months before the wedding. So we talked about it, we went to Watkins to see what we could accomplish with our budget, and then we decided to go ahead and move forward with the project. Here is the before:

Granted, these pictures were a little while ago so they had a little more green on them, but they were pretty still scraggly, and there was a gap in the bushes on the right, which is what the close-up is of. We also took out the pavers that formed two squares, one on each side of the sidewalk. I wasn't crazy about them, plus it makes mowing a little more of a hassle. Lastly, it's just another thing to landscape which means more money!! So here are the afters:

So now everything is clear. Leo is going to spray the yard where we are going to plant with weed killer (they are everywhere!) and then we will hopefully start on planting this weekend! Also, we bought our first lawn mower for the house, which I really did not enjoy! It was so expensive for something so boring and basic. I could think of a million other ways I want to spend that money right now. Oh well, a welcome to home ownership I suppose! However, we do have some beautiful blooms coming up on the side of the house!

Soon (hopefully tomorrow!), I will do another post, which I am super excited about. We did a lot of work on the master bedroom this past week! Actually, I should say my Dad did a lot of work on the master this past week :) Leo and I did the work outside while my Dad worked mainly inside, though I did get a chance to help out a little bit Friday afternoon! I love how its turning out so far, even in it's rough form!

-Katie

master closet

So while I was gone to Louisville/Bowling Green, my Dad and Leo took out one of the closets from the master bedroom. We did this to give some space back to the bedroom, because we are going to use the bedroom next door to create a master bath/closet area. There will be a door here instead leading into the new closet. So here is the before:

There  are two closets that match on either side of the room. The previous owners also added some type of shelving system onto the closet that tore down. We took that off a few weeks ago. We aren't going to take the closet out on the right because there is actually a brick chimney there, through which the furnace is vented. So we are going to go ahead and keep that. The closet on the left we were pretty sure wasn't original, and we were right. Thank goodness, because if not, the flooring would have been missing. So here it is with the trim taken off:

Then they took off the drywall and you can see the studs (another sign its not original-the wood is newer).

Here is a picture of the room with everything gone. I think it adds more space than I thought it would!

I got an unclose shot of the floor. You can see where the studs were, and where they used caulking and got it on the floor. It wasn't that bad, and hopefully it will sand out. We just keep saying "That will add to the character!!! :) As you can see, you can now see into the other room from a small opening.

On the other side, they took down the drywall. We will be cutting two doorways into this wall (one for the closet and another leading into the master bath). Then, we will close up the door leading into the hallway.

My Dad has almost finished mudding and taping everything upstairs. I think he is going after work to finish it tomorrow. Then this coming weekend, we will cut the doors out.

Leo and I also started working on taking out the landscaping out front. While it isn't awful, we want a new start. It seems that random plants have survived the past year and a half without being cared for, so it is quite mismatched everywhere. We have beautiful bulbs, but random. It seems that one bush has died on one side, leaving a small gap. 

We went today to price the shrubs and other plants that we want, and although it was freezing, windy, and raining, we nailed down a nice, neat, and simple plan for the "new" front yard. Our goal budget is $500 and I think we are actually going to get it done! That is if I can control my impulse to buy all of the pretty flowers that we saw at Watkins Nursery. I was like, "Oh, peonies! I want that weeping cherry tree! And the hydrangeas! Oh, look at those azaleas! Oh, there are the roses! I want a rose garden in the back yard!" Leo was actually quite patient with all of it, and I'm grateful for that! It is all so pretty. Unfortunately, not in the budget. Maybe in a couple of years!

-Katie

priming, mudding, and home-made scaffolding

So this past week, we did a lot of little odds and ends stuff. We tried our third method of getting the drywall off and the wallpaper in the second room was on there even better.

That little spot took me over an hour. My dad made the executive decision that we weren't taking the wallpaper off. And at that point, I really had to agree with him. It's not ideal, but we were going to end up replacing all of the drywall with the damage we were doing to it.

He sent me to Benjamin Moore and I bought Insl-x Odorless Primer/Sealer that seals surfaces. We spent the larger part of Saturday/Sunday figuring this out and priming the walls.

This is a view of the corner. You can see the original wallpaper (that has been painted black) and then the primer we applied. We took turns trimming and then rolling it on. We painted a layer of that, and my dad is currently taping and mudding, and mudding and taping, every single seam of wallpaper. Then he is going back over it with a skim coat of drywall mud. Hopefully it will be sealed tight after that. We can just pray.

I want to help tape and mud, but I have been assigned to the closets, where there are a few small holes. Sigh. I guess you have to start somewhere. And to be honest, I probably don't want my limited experience with drywall mud showcased on the walls!

They took a break and while I trimmed, my dad and Leo covered up the hole from the whole-house fan with drywall.

And once again, he will have to tape and mud those seams! 

Then he started on the plaster. This is were it gets interesting, let me tell you. Most of the walls upstairs are new drywall. Except for right by the stairs. That is the area where moisture got in from one of the holes in the roof, so it is peeling on the wall and ceiling. He pulled the top layer off and guess what comes next? Even more taping and mudding. But wait, how does one reach the ceiling and wall over the stairs? Where it is 17 feet tall? Well, that's where the "home-made scaffolding" in the title comes in.

So I walk in after school on Monday and this is what I see rigged up on my staircase. 

It's a good thing this isn't a business, because I'm pretty sure that would not be OSHA approved :) But I must say creative, and it was actually quite sturdy. Much better than anything I would have come up with, that's for sure. Here are the walls, after preliminary taping and mudding.

That is about it for now. They did completely finish the roof and gutters late this afternoon. I will have to take pictures of the final result tomorrow! Now, if this weather would just stabilize, we could start on the outside and do some landscaping and cleaning! I feel kind of useless on the taping and mudding front.

Well, tomorrow is FRIDAY! Which not only means it's the weekend, but that the UK vs UofL game is on!! It is going to be intense, and I can't wait to watch it with my family! 

I hope you all have a great Friday!

-Katie

windows and attic fans

On Tuesday, we decided to start working on two things, the windows in the master and the attic fan.

First we tackled the attic fan. These were installed as an alternative to air conditioning, as it is a much cheaper alternative to air-conditioning. Some people still use them today for not only the cheaper costs, but also as a green alternative to air conditioning. It works by sucking the hot air out of the house and into the attic. From the attic, the theory is that the hot air will leave through the soffits and vents. Soooo, why not keep it? Here is a picture of ours.

There are three main reasons I want it gone. 

1) I'm not big on the aesthetics of it. It may be vain, but I don't like the industrial feel of it. 

2) If you can see the dark black spots, that is ALL DUST. Dust, dust, dust. I am not the world's biggest fan (haha) of dusting, and that is for sure a dust collection pit. No thanks.

3) It is LOUD!!! I have only heard it once, when our realtor Tyler opened it during our first viewing. That was enough for me. The thing is loud. It has probably gotten louder with age, but I just cannot imagine having that noise running for the majority of the summer.

So we took it out from up above in the attic. Well, Leo and my Dad did while I took pictures :)

View of the fan from the attic. Even more dust. 

It was attached with pieces of 2 by 4 and screws. They just split the wood until it was no longer attached.

And its out.

This is the cavity and the vent opening that you see from the second floor.

One thing is for sure, this project is definitely testing my limited ability with lighting on my camera.

So the fan itself is out, and the next step will be to take out the vent and drywall/patch in the hole. I will definitely post that when it happens (hopefully soon!).

Next we went to the master bedroom and started taking out the windows. These windows were directly under the hole in the roof of the back of the house. They were damaged by the water that got in when it rained. We are taking them all out, scraping, sanding, and in some instances repairing them.  Some of the pieces have very early stages of wood rot from the moisture. 

We can save them though. I love the original windows. Leo is quickly getting tired of that word and my fascination with it. Original. But the original features are what gives it character! 

So what about energy efficiency? There is an good article about how if you properly restore old windows and add storm windows (which has already been done), the efficiency of old to new windows is almost the same. The author, Sarah Donahue Wolff, states that "Historic windows used in combination with storm windows have been shown to have even better insulating properties than double-pane windows..." Original wins again :)

For now, I am just posting the before pictures and a couple of pictures from the process of taking them out. We have sent some of them to Watson's Screen and Window Repair for broken glass and new glazing, which helps seal in the window. The other ones we will scrape, sand, and repaint ourselves.

This wooden frame was exposed to a lot of moisture from the leaky roof. Now that everything is dry, the paint is drying and peeling off.

Results of my preliminary scrapings before the window was taken out.

You have to take out the trim, which are holding in the windows and gives it a finished edge. We also had to remove the parting stop to get the top windows out. That was the tricky part! We broke all of them except one. They were very brittle from the water damage. These can be replaced.

After you clear the trim (usually you only have to do one side) and the parting stop, you CAREFULLY remove the upper window. If you aren't careful, it could fall out of the frame.

There are a total of five windows on this wall. We took out the three on the left. The only things left in these are the storm windows.

Windows free from the frame. These will have to be scraped, sanded, and painted. The actual glass is still good.

That was a long post again! Hopefully, we will get a lot done this weekend. We are going to try to finish up the attic fan/vent problem, as well as try to figure out this wallpaper dilemma. We are still deciding...to leave or not to leave the wallpaper? I really don't want to leave it. But I also don't want damaged walls like in the side bedroom. But we have to decide this weekend so we can move forward!

-Katie